I had a really bad cheese curd experience a few weeks ago. I should have known better though so I will take the blame.. somewhat.
Up until this bad experience, I had only tried 2 kinds of cheese curds- a majority from Empire Cheese which is a company about 20 minutes away from home in Campbellford, Ontario. Their cheese curds are delicious! The only other company I have tried cheese curds from was Thornloe Cheese situated in Northern Ontario in Thornloe, Ontario close to New Liskeard. Thornloe’s cheese curds are always a hit at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and have some delicious different kinds that I’ve tried- my favourite being the dill seasoned cheese curds.
So up until my bad experience, I feel like I had tasted the “best of the best” in the cheese curd world. Until I tried the cheese curds I bought that one dark night from the Bulk Barn.
Yes, you heard me right. I purchased cheese curds from the Bulk Barn- Canada’s largest bulk food distributor that many candy lovers may know. Its a store that carries everything from bulk candy to bulk nuts/soups/powders/baking ingredients, etc. And of course, they carry cheese curds. I should have known better when I didn’t see a proper label on the package to indicate which company these cheese curds actually came from and come on, who purchases cheese curds from Bulk Barn?! I had a really bad craving I tell ya…
So when I got home, opened up the bag with excitement and so much anticipation that these curds would taste exactly like the ones I had ate up until this point, I was thoroughly disappointed and somewhat distraught at the taste of these little things. They were horrible! And the worst part, I didnt’ even know where they came from or what they were made of because the labelling on the package was so well.. non existent!
I would love to tell you that I went back, asked to speak to the Manager, found out where the cheese curds were from, and insisted that they must try and purchase from some of Ontario’s best cheese curd companies, but the truth is, I haven’t been back. I am seriously so scared to step into the store again because of my horrible cheese curd experience, that I haven’t been back SINCE.
I know this is the wrong thing to do though. As a concerned customer/dairy farmer, I should go back and ask Bulk Barn where they get their cheese curds from. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that these were not Ontario or Canadian cheese curds- this wasn’t a personal preference taste-testing experience. This was a- I think these are fake and not real Canadian cheese curds experience. And so, I will head back to Bulk Barn in the next week or so to ask where the cheese curds came from. I will be glad to share what I learn from the store.
Has anyone else had a bad cheese curd experience? Where do you normally buy your cheese curds from?! Let’s hope they a product of Ontario 
